


Peter's Sanity

by MissOrilive



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Allison volunteers at the hospital, Alpha Laura Hale, Canon-Typical Violence, Caring Stiles, Comatose Laura, Derek Hale Feels, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Good Peter, Hale Family Feels, Hurt Peter, Laura Hale is a bad Alpha, Laura is a bad niece, M/M, Pack Building, Past Child Abuse, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Sane Peter Hale, Scott Gets Bitten By Laura, Talia made bad decisions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-05-31 05:26:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6457639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissOrilive/pseuds/MissOrilive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning Peter had thought that he deserved a comatose niece and a broken nephew for not having prevented the murder of his family, but that was back then when he and his wolf were still hurt by the loss of their pack. And now he would not be a victim to a mentally deranged family of hunters any longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by trai-all on Tumblr.  
> Original Prompt: [here](http://officialteenwolfprompts.tumblr.com/post/99744547475/teen-wolf-prompts)  
> Tags and pairings will be added with new chapters.

His niece had still not woken up, even after all these years that had past since that horrible day. The burned skin healed away some months after the fire, but she would still not wake up, even though Peter could feel her through their pack bonds. He never regretted staying in Beacon Hills because he believed this to be the reason Laura made progress at all. But honestly? It was exhausting, having to feel this strange bond that was neither broken nor felt like it was alive. Nothing ever came from Laura's side and the bond seemed to drain him, for all the strength and love he sent through ended up being sucked into a bottomless pit.

In the beginning he had thought that he deserved it for not having prevented the murder of his family, but that was back then when he and his wolf were still shocked and broken by the loss of their pack. When Peter got better he took no time to dismiss this guilty notion. It wasn't him who captured the pack in a wolfsbane circle. It wasn't him who sat them on fire. And he would not be a victim to a mentally deranged family of hunters.

But he still got punished by a soul sucking pack bond with a more dead than alive pack member.

Today he'd come to the hospital like every Wednesday – he didn't see a need to come everyday, it would not help Laura and it definitely would interfere with his own life – and had sat down next to his niece. Neither her body nor her bond reacted to his closeness. Thankfully it no longer broke his heart into pieces, for the pain wasn't new any more.

“So, I think your brother won't leave Beacon Hills anytime soon.” He leaned back on the comfortable chair that was part of every long-term patients room. “I tried hinting at universities – had some prospects “appear” around the house, but nothing.”, Peter sighed. “Not that surprising, I know.” His head rolled to the side so that he could look at the peaceful face of his niece. ”But I still had to take the chance and try to convince him.” He moved his hand towards her forehead and gently caressed her hair. “Am I a bad person for being thankful that you still haven't regained consciousness for it prevents you from having to see your brother and how empty he is?” If Peter were a man who cried easily his eyes would have been wet already. Having to see his niece like this once a week was nothing compared to seeing Derek everyday.

It was like fate decided to be especially cruel to his nephew. When one looked at the young man they would be entranced. He was handsome, beautiful even. He took care of his body, always wore clean clothes and ate healthily. And he was smart, too. A pity that he didn't do anything with his brain, but one should never think that Derek was a dimwitted eye candy. Far from it. One of the only things nephew and uncle had in common was probably their love for reading. They never had to worry about money, but even so they never really spent it on much, except books. Before the fire Peter had been a much more flashy person and he still cared about good food and proper clothing, but he no longer shoved the fact that he was wealthy into everyone's faces.

Not that there were many people who were close enough for him to care about. Of course he had plenty of connections and if he asked there would be plenty women and men willing to satisfy him, but someone who was actually a friend, no, he didn't have someone like this.

Of course there was Deaton, the Hale's emissary, but Peter never really liked him. Not before the fire and especially not after it. That man had failed him and his pack. With a proper emissary it would have never been an option for the hunters to sneak up on them. And even now the older man did nothing to provide the remaining Hales with protection or care. Peter could not stand him.

“So, guess who's back in town!”, he declared sarcasticly. “Our good old friends the Argents.” Peter took back his hand and started playing with the claws that had emerged the second he thought about that hunter family. “Apparently Chris and his lovely wife decided to return to their hometown now that their little baby girl is old enough.”, he sniffed disdainfully. “Poor girl probably doesn't even know what kinda sick fucks they are.” The door opened and one of the nurses pushed her head through the gap. “Mr. Hale?”, she asked in a friendly manner, but with a sad smile. “Yes, yes, of course,” Peter answered her unasked question. Slowly he stood up and leaned down to press a kiss on his niece's forehead. “Take care, sweetheart,” he breathed and then left the room, leaving the door open for the nurse to close.

On his way back – he had left his car at home – Peter once again had time to think about all the trouble he'd had to face.

Thinking of his nephew once again, he rubbed the bridge of his nose dejectedly. If Talia could see her son now she would be proud of what a splendid picture of a perfect male he had become, but what good did it any of them. Derek was like an empty shell. He had everything he'd need to live a fulfilled life, but because the people who were responsible for him as a child had not watched out for him well enough he had made a mistake that made his future meaningless.

For a moment Peter became overwhelmed with hate towards that godforsaken woman. He slowly sank to the ground and lay on his back right there next to the empty street. He always tried to reign in his anger and thirst for revenge, especially after it had become clear that there would be no legal repercussions for Kate Argent and her sick fuck of a father. In another life maybe Peter would have succumbed to this madness that stuck in his head, but he wasn't a man for bloody revenge. Especially when he still had two people to life for.

For a little while he would lay down right here and just take a breath and then he would be strong enough to confront his nephew.

A car heading towards the centre of Beacon Hills drove past him when Peter closed his eyes. After a moment he heard how it hit reverse. The wheels came to a stop next to him.

“Hey, man. Are you, are you okay?”, asked an uncertain and young, but definitely male voice. Peter sighed. Which apparently caused his spectator to ramble in nervousness.  
“Normally, I wouldn't stop next to a grown man lying next to the street, but I'm the son of the sheriff and he taught me to care about any civilian, oh, he will also find you and kill you if you end up being a deranged killer, which you are hopefully not? I mean there could be many reasons why you are laying there. Not all of them have to be evil, right, right?” A thud was heard from the car. Peter imagined how the rambling man had accidentally hit the inside of his car while talking as if he didn't know how to stop the flood of words.

“I'm fine.”, he finally answered, which was actually almost true. This little episode had distracted him enough from his heavy thoughts.  
“Are you sure?”, came the spit fire question. Peter rolled his eyes. “I mean if you just lay there for fun, then sure so be it, do whatever gives you the kicks, but maybe you could at least stand up once, please? So that I can see that you are actually alright and I don't have to call an ambulance or something?” The voice had come a bit closer and finally a head popped out to the passenger seat's window. Having known the Sheriff since the fire, when the man had still been a deputy, Peter recognized the man's son immediately, even if his rambling had already informed him that he had met one of the Stilinskis. If he remembered correctly their family was only made up out of two, father and son, after Mrs. Stilinski had died of an illness.  
Seeing the shorn-short hair, Peter took a free guess on what it was that killed her. Two whiskey coloured eyes looked down at him in a mix of fear, curiosity and concern. The last one made him sit up. He stood up next to the car – a blue jeep – and patted down his jacket and trousers to get rid of any residential dirt.

“Ah,” the Stilinski boy commented. Peter raised one eyebrow. Hurriedly the boy sat back down in the driver seat. “Well, that was much appreciated and now that I know you are in fact fine... I can drive on and not feel responsible for leaving a defenseless and hurt person behind, right.”, he mumbled and started the car again. Peter only nodded. When the boy nodded at him in a hasty goodbye, he decided to at least thank him. “Thank you for your concern.” He grinned when the boy blushed, nodded once again and finally drove on.

Peter stretched his neck. Well, no more excuses to stop him from returning home, he thought.

 

* * *

 

Stiles had actually been on the way back from school and when he reached his house, he had already forgotten about the strange but attractive man at the road. His father was asleep, since he would have to work the night shift, so he quietly warmed up some leftovers and tiptoed up into his room with the warm plate. Throwing his bag into a corner he started up his computer, already starting to eat before he even sat down.

The afternoon was spent doing homework, researching and listening to Scott rambling about the new girl at school. Over the years and probably thanks to his ADD he was capable of listening to his bro and working on some research for School at the time.

“She's so pretty,” Scott sighed dreamingly. “Sure,” answered Stiles like he had been doing for the last two hours. “You know what's really cool?”, Scott asked, but already continued talking before giving his friend a chance to answer. “She is not only pretty and smart, but very kind, too,” he explained proudly. “My mum told me that she volunteered in the hospital, almost immediately after her family moved here. Isn't that amazing?” The young boy obviously was smitten.

“Yeah,” Stiles answered slowly and Scott already started narrating everything he knew about Allison Argent. The hospital was always a heavy topic for Stiles and he was thankful that Scott did not linger there. But he actually did think it was amazing that Allison helped the nurses, for he knew how heavy a work load Mama McCall had. “She even gave me her phone number today!”, he heard Scott exclaiming in the background.

It was already half past eleven when Stiles was still deep into the depths of the internet while still having an open Skype call with Scott. Basically what they did every day and night, when they weren't by chance actually spending time together. He yawned, but it was more out of boredom than exhaustion. Helping Scott with his homework had been a short intermission from said boredom but now it was back full strength.

The sheriff had said goodbye a few hours ago, while Mama McCall had stumbled home tiredly at almost the exact same time and had been sleeping since then.

Stiles disinterestedly started at a site about oil transferring pipes, when he heard a strange noise from Scott.

“What's wrong?”, he asked, at the same time hoping that nothing was actually wrong but also that maybe finally something interesting would come up.

“It's Allison.”, Scott answered with a voice full of worry and Stiles rolled his eyes, already losing all hopes of getting entertainment.  
“What's with her?”, he asked like a good bro was supposed to nonetheless.

“She just sent this really strange message.” Awkwardly he held his phone in front of the webcam.  
“Huh,” Stiles commented. “She's actually working this late? Is that even allowed?” It was great that she wanted to help people, but she was still a teenager and should care about school and free time more, Stiles thought. Scott sighed in frustration.  
“No, that's not what I mean. She actually isn't working anymore, she just had no way of getting home before now, for her parents are out and she doesn't want to call them, so she's stuck there.”, he explained.

“So, what's strange then?” Stiles asked and leaned closer to the screen to read the message once again. Scott had scrolled down though and now the newest message was shown.

_\\\I think there's someone here, there are strange noises coming from one of the hallways. What should I do?!?\\\_

Stiles frowned. “What does she mean by that?”, he asked and Scott was already typing out an answer to the girl. After a few minutes, when Stiles actually started to get impatient, Scott stopped ignoring him.

“Something's happening at the hospital, Stiles! Allison can hear growling and scratching from one of the rooms.” He looked down to read further. “It's one of the long time patients. It's unlikely that the woman in there has woken up and visiting hours are already over.” He read Allison's next message. “Allison is alone there right now. The head nurse is sleeping in the back office and Allison doesn't want to get her in trouble, but she also doesn't want to check out what's happening on her own.” Scott's voice was full of concern and he looked up at the web cam with his huge puppy eyes. Stiles already ripped his phone from the loading cord and pushed his chair back.  
“Well then. How about we take a look?”, he asked and tried to reign in his excitement. “Are you sure?”, Scott asked quietly, but when Stiles pointed out that Allison was all alone and scared he easily decided to meet up with Stiles and go to the hospital. That decision may have helped Allison, but Scott? Not so much.

 

* * *

 

After the phone call ended Peter ran up to Derek's room and gripped him by his arm. He dragged his sleepy nephew towards his car and was already speeding down the street a minute later.  
“What's happening?” Derek whined and rubbed his eyes.  
“Laura is awake.”, Peter answered shortly. Immediately Derek tensed up in his seat and was wide awake. Peter tried to concentrate on the street, but he could feel how his pack bond with Derek wavered in helplessness and pain and hope.  
“Really?”, the younger man whispered brokenly and his uncle felt his gaze on him.  
“I just got a call from the hospital. When the nurses came into her room this morning, they found her wide awake.”, he explained. Derek started shaking next to him and Peter decided against telling him about the blood they found in Laura's room. Until he knew what had happened, he would not upset his nephew needlessly.

A pretty nurse he knew as Melissa welcomed Peter and Derek and led them to Laura's room without further ado. Melissa kept on shooting Derek concerned glances, but luckily decided against comforting him physically. She leaned close to Peter while they rushed through the halls, not knowing that Derek could hear her regardlessly.  
“She's awake and seems to know that none of the staff want to hurt her, but she seems pretty upset and isn't talking yet.”, she updated him. “We found blood on her arms and face, but as of yet we couldn't make out any wounds on her.”  
Derek tripped when he heard her, but easily fell back in step with them. Peter walked faster.  
Had Laura hurt herself when she woke up and did not know where she was? Her werewolf healing would have healed scratches easily before the staff arrived, but of course he could not tell that to the nurse. Or was it someone's or something else's blood? And when it was, had Laura been attacked and where were the attackers now?

They reached his niece's room, which was basically full of people, but Peter easily recognized them all as staff members. The doctor who had taken care of Laura from the start turned around to him, already waiting to update him. Before he could step closer, Derek gripped his jacket from behind. Peter felt claws poking against his back.  
“What is it, Derek?”, he asked concernedly, but impatient and turned slightly towards him.  
“The smell.” Derek spit and Peter frowned. He inconspicuously breathed in the air of the room. After he separated the smell of the staff and most of all Laura's smell, which had distracted him, he could make out three more unidentified scents. He concentrated on them, one seemed to resemble Melissa's scent, so he decided to ignore it for the moment, the second one struck him as familiar, but he could not remember of whom and the third scent... .

“Argent.”, he growled quietly and Derek pressed closer to him. Peter could hear a high pitched whine from him, which was impossible to hear from the humans.  
“Did they hurt her, uncle Peter?”, Derek asked and his voice reminded him so much of the young, carefree boy he had been years ago, that Peter pressed close his eyes and grabbed his nephew's free hand.  
“Control yourself, Derek.”, he ordered and slowly Derek's claws retracted.  
“Give me a moment. We will find out what happened, but for the moment Laura is alive and awake.”, he reassured the younger man and dragged him closer to the bed, where they could finally come eye to eye with their long lost pack member.


	2. Peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time for Laura to wake up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would have puplished this earlier, but I wanted to wait for my beta. Well, I'm still waiting, so whatever. Enjoy!!!

All these years Peter had imagined different scenarios of how Laura would wake up. Regardless of the unresponsive bond he felt really close to his niece, much closer than before the fire. Back then she reminded him too much of Talia and he did not really spend that much time with her, but after he visited her frequently in the hospital all these years, she had become a point of fixture in his daily life.

Like Derek she had lost everything while she still was a child. Both did not only lose their home and alpha, but their parents. And even though humans did not experience pack bonds as such, Peter was very sure that losing once parents was a whole different scenario altogether no matter who or what you are. Like with the Stilinski boy. Peter thought back to the day before. The death of the boy's mother had not made a cruel person out of him. After all, he did seem genuinely concerned about a stranger.

While the death of his family had hit Peter hard and the loss of his alpha made his wolf anxious about what was to become of the pack and him, he still thought that the circumstances had been more lenient on him than on his niece and nephew. If he was honest with himself – and Peter generally did not care about how harsh being honest could be received – he had not lost _everything_ in the fire. If he thought back to before the fire - and that still hurt - he remembered with disappointment that he had been the black sheep of the family. He had followed his alpha and defended the pack, but that had not stopped him from judging almost anything Talia did. He wasn't foolish, so he had never attacked her openly, but his wolf that had constantly felt hostile towards the alpha had been noticed by the pack at some point. Probably because he had been still so young then – ha, young, and still smarter than his big sister! – no one had tried to reprehend him.

The only person who had done so openly had been Laura, but Peter never really saw her as a threat since she hardly had been an adult. Talia had probably let her concentrate her fury on Peter as some kind of alpha-to-be training. Thanks for nothing, sister. Laura really was the equivalent spawn of Talia, however, Cora and Derek had always been an utter delight.

Cora never let her uncle run her down, even if Peter still managed to trick her quite often. He adored that little girl, though. She still had not been able to control her shift very well back then and therefore her emotions had been easily identified because she often shifted in anger, fear or surprise. Peter knew that Cora never would actually fool him. The little girl wasn't someone who manipulated people. She showed her disdain towards him openly and was as honest as him in that regard. She probably resembled Peter more than she did her own mother.

And Derek. While he was entirely different from Cora and Peter as a person he secretly was Peter's most familiar pack member. No one else looked up to him like Derek. The faith and awe in his eyes when he had been a boy always made Peter's wolf preen. He might not have shown it openly that often – being honest was entirely different from showing affection – but he adored the boy and always hoped that he would become a strong wolf who while being a beta still was smart enough to question his alpha if needed. And maybe Derek would have surpassed his hopes hadn't it been for the mistakes of others and that vile woman.

Derek had become a strong wolf, though. He was smart. And supposedly loyal, for he stayed with both Peter and Laura all those years, but apart from that he was nothing like the boy from his past. And Cora? Cora was dead, burned while Peter could do nothing but watch. Fate left him with Laura instead.

But years had passed. Laura had been in a deep coma and the loss of a pack had changed them all, so maybe Peter could come to care for her as deeply as for Derek. In the short moment before he finally talked with Laura again he actually felt like he already had started that journey.

Except that Laura frowned at him as soon as she saw him. As a wolf it was much easier to recognize a person even if you had not seen them for years, so she definitely knew who he was. And she obviously recognized Derek as well because when she turned her attention to her little brother her face relaxed and she opened her arms in welcome. Derek did not waver long to press his face against her chest and to start sobbing. And wasn't that a kick in his nuts, Peter thought. Laura took it in a stride. She hugged her brother close and shushed him softly. Peter heard her whispering how she would care for Derek and that everything was okay from now on and that she would be always there for her baby brother. It took a long time till Derek calmed down. Long enough that the doctor explained to Peter how it was a miracle that Laura had woken up and seemed psychological and neurological unharmed. They would still do some tests later to make sure that her brain worked flawlessly but the man was sure that Laura had made a full recovery. He shook Peter's hand sombrely and offered congratulations in name of the whole staff, before he ushered everyone else out to leave the family to their reunion.

Waiting for the door to close behind them, Peter tried to sort his thoughts out. On the one hand he felt ecstatic that Laura was healthy. Maybe their lives would finally go back to normal and perhaps even Derek would recover slowly bit by bit. But on the other hand - had Peter really mattered so little in his nephew's healing? The last time his nephew had cried had been on the day of the fire, after that never again. Not on the funerals, not on the discovery that Laura was in deep coma. Not once did he cry. He hurt terrible that much was clear through the bond and the look in his eyes. But only now as soon as Laura had woken up, Derek finally cried. Seeing how the young man sobbed against his sister's shoulder, cheeks wet and claws out, almost swallowing every other breath, so god damn broken, Peter finally felt like the ass hole everyone made him out to be. Here his nephew got his sister back and Peter was butthurt that it wasn't his shoulder he was crying on.

 

* * *

 

“I'm the alpha.”, was the first thing Laura said to him, when they were finally alone. Peter had told Derek to get himself something to drink and begged Nurse McCall to watch out for him.

The older wolf's jaw tensed, but then he only sat down calmly in the chair he had sat in so often.

“Are you now?”, he asked dryly and did not flinch physically when Laura flashed her red eyes at him, but he did felt disheartened seeing them. His niece sat upright on the hospital bed, her legs beneath a light blanket and probably still to weak to work, but in comparison to the slow recovery a human would have to go through she would probably be up and about in a few days. And then Beacon Hills would have a new Alpha prowling along the preserve and the streets, ready to step into her passed mother's footprints.

Peter leaned back heavily against the chair back, while still pretending to be utterly unimpressed by what Laura had to say. He would rather ram his head repetitively against a wall then having to listen to Laura right now, but that would only hurt his handsome face.

“And what do you plan to do now?”, he inquired next as if ready to cater to any of Laura's whims any minute now. He would definitely not do so, even if he still hoped that she would reconsider the way her mother had lead the pack. If Laura wanted to be a proper alpha she had better learn from someone else then Talia.

Peter always wanted to be the alpha of the Hale pack. His parents probably deemed that urge as jealousy between siblings from the first time they had witnessed it. They had placated Peter since he was young and didn't bother to hide that they only trained Talia to be the next monarch. But when Peter was old enough he actually tried to understand his own feelings in a fit of self-doubt. It had confused him greatly why he was so focussed on being the alpha since he was a child even after he put aside the jealousy. He remembered – and hopefully no one would ever know about that – that he always imagined having his own pack when he was a young boy. Back then he pretended that his toys were his fellow pack mates and they went on many adventures – god, the embarrassment only thinking about it – but it had always been him who had been the alpha. Even before he understood what an alpha actually was.

He once had asked his parents how the position of the alpha was chosen. They explained about heritage and the power of the moon, but one thing they said remained the strongest in Peter's mind: “An real Alpha is born”. Back then they immediately followed it up with explaining how Talia would be the greatest alpha to be.

“A real alpha is born” - at the beginning Peter in his childish mind thought that he had to take the meaning literally. In a pack a new wolf would be born, who would be immediately recognized as an alpha. It made sense that it was some kind of heritage. Alpha parents would bear alpha children.

But the older he got the more he questioned these beliefs unconsciously. For there was still this urge, this dreams about being the leader of a pack. And so he learned step by step about how it wasn't always the children of the alpha that became the next monarch. He met packs were the weakest beta gave birth to a strong cup with potential for the next leader. And he learned about murder. Pack wars. How some wolfs killed an alpha from another pack to became powerful themselves. Or even from their own packs. And it did not matter if they were bitten or born wolves.

It was all so confusing, because he still remembered that phrase his parents had told him. It took him years to understand. Years in which his jealousy towards Talia grew, both out of anger and both out of concern. Why did he have to feel this need to be an alpha? Why was Talia an apparently born alpha messing up again and again? Why did no one saw it? Peter did not believe Talia to be the great alpha everyone else said she was and the fire and all what lead to it, showed him that he was right.

When Talia died and Laura fell into a coma, his eyes still shone yellow back at him when he looked in the mirror and Peter finally started to believe that his parents had misunderstood the old phrasing. Because neither Peter nor Derek ended up with red eyes and neither did Peter feel his alpha bond switch from Talia to Laura or anybody else in that regard, but still they did not end up as omegas even years later. None of them, but they had no alpha, so how could that be?

He decided that the phrasing was right, but that it's meaning had been misunderstood. On your birthday it would already be decided if you are capable of becoming an alpha. It wasn't about biology or inheritance, it was about the mind and the soul. It did not matter if you are born as a human or a wolf. There is something inside you that will define you as an alpha. But unlike his parents believed, you could still mess it up. It took training and learning to become a good leader. Without it that special trait inside of you could not develop. Like a flower that would get sunlight and water, but it's pot is to small for the roots to grow bigger.

Now, Peter was sure that both him and Talia had that potential from the start, but while his parents focussed on training Talia to become the next Alpha Hale they dismissed a candidate that might would have achieved even greater. Peter finally accepted that his urge to become alpha was actually because his inner wolf was born to be an alpha and not because he felt neglected. This inner strength also might be what made him survive without an alpha so long and it made him reconsider the actual strength of Derek's wolf. For the young man had never seemed to struggle with losing control.

After Talia's death maybe Peter's chance to finally care for his pack how he was supposed to had became reality. But to his confusion and dismay his eyes did not turn red, he did not become stronger and now Laura of all people sat in front of him, waiting for him to submit without second guessing how Derek and Peter were still able to function while assumingly having a dysfunctioning alpha.

“We are rebuilding the house.”, Laura finally answered. Peter looked at her with judgment, but she only huffed. “I don't understand why you did not already start rebuilding. Our pack needs a home.”, she explained as if Peter was to stupid to understand. “And you have considered that we might already have a new home, yes?”, Peter sneered, but only smiled when Laura glared at him, her eyes glowing.

“Well, now we return to the old one.”, she spat. Peter stood up and walked to the window. The sun shone as if nothing special had happened on this day. Well, it also had on the day of the fire. “You mean the one, were our family and pack burned to death. The one that was supposed to be our safe heaven. That one?”, he said slowly. He rolled his eyes when he heard Laura's growl and snickered to himself when he turned back to witness her standing on weak legs next to her bed. “Don't you dare defy me, uncle.” She had given up on stepping closer to him, but her words were non the less aggressive. “I know you only think about yourself, but maybe once in your life you think about the pack instead of working against it.” Peter felt his claws stabbing into his own palms, but he bit down on his tongue to reign in his fangs. The girl was talking like that because noone had told her the truth. Laura smiled snootily. “Mum was always right about you. You know, she warned me about how you are so power-hungry, that you wouldn't care about using the weaker ones to get what you want.” It looked like she was smiling, when she sat back on the bed and made herself comfortable as if nothing had happened. Peter saw her knees shaking, though. “Poor Derek, having to live with you all this time, must have been horrible. How come you seem to live your life happily and Derek ended up being so... messed up.” If Peter were a lesser creature he would probably have attacked Laura, used her current weakness to snap her neck. But he only did feel guilty for this was a question he had asked himself before.

“But don't worry, uncle Peter. You don't have to concern yourself with this any more. I will be everything Derek needs.”, Laura smiled. Peter stepped towards the door, when Laura dismissed him with a wave of her hand. He had to get out of here. He would not listen to any other word his niece would throw at his head regardless of them being right or wrong. The door was about to fall shut behind him.

“How about you stay away for a while. Derek doesn't need you disrupting his life any more.”, Laura muttered beneath her breath.

 

* * *

 

“Stop twitching, Scott.”, Allison chided the boy. Two brown eyes looked up at her pathetically. “But it hurts!” She rolled her eyes, both in affection and relief that Scott was able to be his adorable self again after what happened the night before.

“Scotty-boy, what kinda bed manners are those.”, Stiles piqued from the side and laughed as Scott's and Allison's cheeks flushed. He stepped next to the girl and peaked over her shoulder down to Scott's hip. Allison gently cleaned the deep bite mark with medical alcohol. “So, how does it look?”, Stiles asked and had to look away, when the wound oozed slightly. Thank god, that Allison was here to take care of it.

“I really don't know.”, Allison said and patted Scott's hand soothingly, when he twitched once more in pain. “I only help out with the minor things in the hospital. I'm not actually a nurse! Maybe we _should_ tell your mum?”, she questioned the boys' decision once again. Immediately Scott stared at her with panic and Stiles shook his head. “And then what? We tell her that we broke into the room of a long term patient, at night, because we heard suspicious sounds and then said patient turned out to spread fur and bit Scott when he tried to protect you?”, he mumbled and laughed dismissivly. “Yeah, right.”

Allison sighed. “But what else should we do?”, she asked. Scott sat up on Stiles' bed and grabbed her hand gently. “It's okay, Allison. You're doing the best you can.”, he tried to cheer her up and she felt warmth spread through her hand. She had to look away.

“Scotty's right. You're doing great. And I might already have found something.” Stiles held up his hand and shook the papers he had printed out, while Allison had checked on Scott's wound. Both his best friend and the girl looked up at him curiously.

“And?”, Scott asked impatiently.

Stiles shook his hand again and put on a grim expression. “Werewolves.”, was everything he said.

“... .”

“... .”

“... .”

“WHAT?!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Talia is a fallible alpha in this fic. Laura learned from her. Therefore she is a bad alpha as well. She says some mean things to Peter and behaves very rudely and uppity. For those who like Laura, just know that I made use of her, because she doesn't have much screen time and I'd rather make her ooc than anyoneelse.
> 
> Derek acts and behaves kinda ooc, too, but his background is different than from the on in the show (he lives with sane!Peter, not with big sister! and alpha!Laura)!!
> 
> Depending on how you guys receive Laura's character, I might change it in the next chapters. It won't change the plotline that much, but was needed at the beginning.
> 
> Also, thanks for the comments!! And of course the kudos!! Feel free to comment!


	3. Peter and Stiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What exactly happened that night when Laura woke up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for your kudos on the last chapter!!  
> Once again, I was to impatient to wait for my beta. Therefore all mistakes are mine. Sadly.  
> Enjoy reading!

As expected both Allison and Scott reacted highly sceptical towards Stiles' conception of what had happened the night before. Allison's reaction was mostly based on the fact that she still wasn't familiar with Stiles' unique character and that she wasn't entirely sure if he was being serious, while Scott honestly just did not want to believe that he had been bitten by a werewolf, a mythical creature. It took the young Stilinski boy a while to convince the two teenager that they should give him a bit more time to develop and research his assumption, before they dismissed it entirely. Finally, they accepted but only because they did not know what else to do. Allison also thought to herself that the woman who bid Scott did in fact spread fur, but she kept quiet about her thoughts and concentrated on explaining to her parents why she had not come home that night. After they had finally grudgingly accepted her explanation, they send her to her room, and Allison threw herself on her bed and tried to wrap her mind around what had happened the night before.

* * *

  _The young girl couldn't help but consider those noise from Ms. Laura Hale's room suspicious. It was already past visiting time, and especially with the long term patients the staff made sure that every visitor left in the evening. Conversely to that she already witnessed how some nurses allowed lovers to stay longer with each other in the emergency station, or parents to remain behind with their hurt children._

_But this only winded up explaining that apart from Laura Hale no one else should be in her room. Allison had been sitting at the nurses' station for quite a while now and would have seen anyone who entered the hospital room through the door. The young woman was smart, and especially her father always taught her to think rational and calmly, therefore she thought about the only other way someone could have entered the room. Through the window. But once again this should not have been possible, because the windows of the long term care rooms were barred in a way that enough light fell into the room, but that no human or animal could enter through it. When she had started volunteering at the hospital the head nurse had explained that those windows had been barred for the patients safety. On the one hand, the staff wanted to be able to open the windows for fresh air since there was no other way for the patients to go outside, but because of their duties the nurses could not stay long in the individual rooms, and because Beacon Hills was deep in the Californian forest many rodents might want to take the change of entering any open window they saw, and the patients weren't able to defend themselves. On the other hand, there had been an occasion were one comatose patient had woken up and was so confused that he promptly fled through the window. Luckily, the staff caught him easily, but he already had sustained new injuries on the run._

_So, no way for anyone to enter through the window._

_At this point the noises Allison heard from the room had turned rather strange and almost feral. She could hear scratching and whining but also growling like that of an upset carnivore. It did not take the young girl long to plead Scott for help. The exhausted nurse on shift was back in one of the supply rooms and had been fast asleep since Allison had offered to have an eye on everything. But the nurse would probably not believe her anyway that there was something wrong and only think that Allison was less of the sweetheart everyone thought her to be._

_Scott was her only choice. When the young boy finally sprinted up to the nurses' station, Allison wasn't surprised that Stiles was following him at his heels._

* * *

 While walking into the public library in Beacon Hills, Stiles went over what had happened the night before. Beforehand, he had already driven Scott home. Luckily, neither Mama McCall nor his father had noticed their impromptu sleepover. After exchanging numbers with Allison, he had driven her home, too, and then drove on to visit the library. The boy tried to write down anything he could remember as detailed as possible when he finally sat down and took out his laptop.

* * *

  _As soon as Scott concentrated on calming down Allison and also started flirting with her awkwardly, Stiles stepped closer towards Ms. Hale's room. The noises had developed to be rather audible, and therefore the young man did not have to ask Allison for directions. Stiles took note that the door was closed. He pressed gently with his fingertips against the wood to test if it maybe was slightly ajar, but the door did not give way. Next to the door and beneath the room number, the name Laura Hale was printed. Stiles decided to remember that name for later since it seemed to ring a bell somewhere in his mind._

_Quietly he tried to identify the noises coming from the room. They definitely had to be made by a living being, for he could identify heavy breathing and raspy growling. But apart from that he never had heard anything like this._

“ _So, what's wrong?” Stiles almost kick his knee into the door, when Scott spoke up next to him. He turned around and waved furiously, before promptly pressing his palm against Scott's mouth. His best friend tried to back off, but Stiles gripped his hoodie strongly glaring at him till Scott shrunk into himself and became quiet._

_But it already was too late; when Stiles concentrated back onto the door the noise behind it had stopped completely. Once again, he glared back at Scott, who only shrugged his shoulders and blushed. Allison, who had been standing next to them, stepped closer to Stiles and pressed her mouth closely to his ear. “What do we do now?” she asked, and Stiles was amazed by her whispering ability because he could understand every word while he was sure no one else could hear her apart from him. Stiles pressed his other ear against the door but could still hear nothing. He could see Allison frown, though. She leaned towards him again._

“ _What if she just had a seizure or something? She might need help!”, she whispered with concern that immediately struck Stiles. For a moment he thought distraught on what to do. Only when looking at Allison once more, he finally nodded with determination. He pointed at the door handle, and Allison put her hand on it softly and pressed it down._

_What happened next was so fast that it technically was over before Stiles understood what took place. As soon as the girl had opened the door a big, shadowy lump had sprung at them from inside the room. Scott, ever the hero, immediately pushed himself between Stiles and Allison, who both fell to the side, and he blocked the door with his body. With wide eyes Stiles stared into the slightly opened doorway. Two deep red eyes stared back at him, before snapping back to Scott, who had apparently kicked against the creature's chest and shoved it back inside the room. Scott was too slow for the second attack, and Stiles winced when he heard Scott's pained inhale and the wet sound of teeth ripping into flesh. Allison screamed with her hand pressed against her mouth, but both Stiles and she pulled themselves together at seeing their injured friend and rushed forward to free Scott from the jaws of whatever had bitten his hip, and had hold onto it with sharp teeth since. Stiles wrapped his arms around his friend's waist and tried pulling him backwards, while sweet, brilliant Allison did not hesitate to poke her fingers right into the red glowing eyes. Thankfully the creature immediately released Scott with a feral cry, so that Stiles could drag him away from the door. Allison immediately grabbed onto Scott as well. With his friend secure and away from those jaws, Stiles jumped towards the door and grabbed the handle. For a moment he caught sight of the creature in the light shining in from the corridor. The creature held its face in pain, but Stiles could easily make out the clawed hands and the furry face with its fangs. He did not know what Laura Hale looked like, but that right there was definitely a woman beneath those grotesque features. Stiles pulled the door close with a bang._

* * *

 Allison shuddered when she remembered the beast that had attacked them. It luckily did not follow them, after they immediately had taken flight. Both Stiles and she had dragged a heavy breathing Scott out of the hospital and towards Stiles' jeep. Stiles had jumped behind the wheel after helping Allison shove Scott into the back seat and drove them home to the Stilinskis' house. None of them were able to talk. They had been to frightened by what had happened. At the house Allison had quietly cleaned and wrapped Scott's wound up, while a drained Scott already had fallen asleep on Stiles' bed. His best friend had grabbed a hidden police radio and kept on listening to any emergency that had been radioed in for the next hours, but his father and the deputies had not been called to the hospital once.

In the morning, when she had woken up in surprise next to Scott, Stiles still had been awake but confirmed that nothing else seemed to have happened at the hospital.

Laying on her bed, Allison closed her eyes in relief once again. She already had checked via Mrs. McCall if any of the nurses or patients had been hurt by any chance, but apart from the fact that apparently comatose patient Laura Hale had finally woken up after years nothing else had happened. For now Allison would wait for Stiles to do his research, after all, she was confined to her room what with staying over at a boy's home the whole night without allowance. She sighed again.

* * *

 In the library Stiles had already grabbed any book on humanoid creatures with fur he could find. While he started to question that the rampant superstition on supernatural beings might not be as superstitious as everyone believed it to be, he was still certain that a lot of the information, which he would find on werewolves, was entirely crap and made up. Therefore, he only concentrated on every fact that showed up repetitively in the books he read. Werewolves are humans that can shift into a wolf like form with increased body hair, fangs and glowing eyes. The supernatural being is strongly connected to the moon and its cycles.

For a moment Stiles imagined being able to shift into a full wolf, but the woman from last night still had kept humanoid features, so he dismissed this point for now. Even, if becoming a wolf would be awesome.

After he wrote down anything he could find on werewolves in the public library, Stiles searched for anything he could find on Laura Hale. He easily found her in the registry of Beacon Hills and finally remembered where he had heard her name before. The Hale fire. A case of a fire that killed a family that hadn't been able to escape their burning house in the preserve. The only survivors were Laura Hale, who had been staying comatose in the long term care of the hospital ever since, her uncle Peter and her younger brother, Derek. Stiles remembered how anxious this case had made his father back when he was still a deputy. Being the sneaky brat he had been and still was, Stiles had eavesdropped and heard that apparently quite a few children had also been victims of the fire. The Hales had been having some kind of family reunion that basically ended with the extinction of almost the entire family.

“Werewolves, huh?” a manly voice interrupted his thoughts, and Stiles flinched in surprise. He looked up and immediately recognized the man that had been laying on the street two days ago. Deep blue eyes stared at him, and unlike his usually eloquent self Stiles did not know what to say. Thankfully, the strange man took this burden from him.

“You are interested in the supernatural?” he asked curiously and looked back down to the table in between them that was overflowing with the books Stiles had gathered. Taking in the man's appearance, Stiles swallowed heavily and only nodded falteringly. That man was utterly gorgeous, and Stiles tended to act awkwardly around gorgeous people like Lydia Martin. The stranger was definitely taller than Stiles, for now at least, but his broad shoulders and the thick neck gave him a rather counterbalanced appeal while seemingly being sturdy but not overly huge. The man smiled widely and picked up one of the books into a smooth and strong hand. After he had opened it at one random point that Stiles had marked with a post-it, Stiles blushed with embarrassment when seeing the older man's lip curling in disgust. Somehow, he felt foolish and dubious. But the man already lay the book back on the table. “A lot of misguided ideas, right?” he grinned. “Are you working on a school project? I might be able to help you. I would call myself an expert in supernaturalism.” His eyes rove over Stiles blushing face, and the young man saw those beauteous eyes twitch in mirth.

The point-blank contemplation and his relaxed stance finally gave Stiles back his words. “That is sooo creepy,” he muttered and almost face palmed himself. Whilst it was shady that an older man randomly walks up to teenage boys and offers them to help with their school work, Stiles still had that need to appear mature and as an equal match to his conversational partner especially because this particular man was extremely handsome and had a rather soothing voice. So “yeah Stiles!” for him immediately insulting him. The man raised an eyebrow in question upon seeing the boy's cringing.

Stiles tried to explain, “I was always taught not to speak to suspicious adults, especially when they creep up on me.” The man's mouth switched into a grin, but then he mustered up a playful frown, “Me, a suspicious adult? Don't hurt my feelings, young one.” He dramatically pressed his fingertips against his own chest. Stiles could not help but laugh. “Well, it is suspicious to lay next to the road, isn't it?” he hinted and leaned back in his chair.

“Oh, so you do recognize me.”, was surprisingly the man's answer. This time Stiles was the one to raise his eyebrows. “It isn't really common,” he muttered as explanation, though. For a moment, both men stared at each other, before the standing man finally laughed and offered Stiles his hand, “I shall introduce myself, then, young man. Peter Hale, an entirely plain adult who sometimes lays down next to roads, and talks to teenagers.” Stiles had been about to take the hand, eager to feel the probably warm and sturdy grip, but as soon as he heard the man's name he tensed and froze. Unconsciously his gaze flew down towards the newspaper article that he just had been reading. Black on white stood Peter Hale's name right next to the group picture of him and his deceased family. Hastily Stiles slapped close the register, but it was already too late. When he looked back up again, Mr. Hale had taken back his previously offered hand and was staring right at where the article was now hidden beneath the case binder's cover. Shit.

* * *

 While Peter had recognized the Stilinski boy as soon as he lay eyes on him, he'd had felt driven to test if the boy remembered him, too, and if he'd had not, the wolf would have used the chance for an unbiased, repeated introduction. His curiosity, some may call it nosiness, had been aroused when he caught a few titles of the books the boy had draped around himself. Why was Stilinski interested in werewolves?

As soon as he saw his own upside down face gazing back at him from the picture in front of the boy, though, he felt cautious and honestly a mix between disappointed and surprised.

“Ah, it seems not only werewolves have piqued your interest,” he offered slowly and tried to catch the boy's eyes, who of course managed to avert that for now. Howsoever, Peter had still the choice of listening to his heartbeat when he started questioning him now. Unsure about the boy wanting to take flight or causing a racket, he decided to sit down and appear merely curious instead of menacing.

“Because it appears to be me or my family that you decided to “study” I might have the right to know why?” the werewolf asked calmly. The boy's heartbeat was fast and rapid but that wasn't entirely surprising as he had been caught doing something he should not have. It also wasn't that surprising that the boy did not know what to say. Keen on getting an answer nonetheless, Peter tried to encourage him somehow. He offered him a possible explanation of his own.

“Maybe you stumbled upon my picture when you were researching and recognized me from our prior meeting?” The boy lifted his head, finally, and nodded hurriedly, “Yes! That is... that is exactly what happened.” His heart skipped a beat. A lie then. But Peter tried to be forgiving as the boy was obvious scared.

“And what exactly had you been researching that caused this unexpected interruption?” He rested his elbows on the arms of the chair and leaned back into a relaxed and seemingly nonchalant stance.

“Eh, I... had been researching...” The boy's word stumbled haltingly from his lips. He could not meet Peter's eyes while his brain was searching for an answer.

Suddenly he looked up with a sharp grin. “It was because of your niece!” he called out triumphantly. “My niece.”, Peter repeated drily. The boy blushed but kept on explaining. “It was because she woke up and I remembered her name but I did now why, so I looked in the newspaper articles.” Peter stared at the long eyelashes that hide those auburn eyes.

“How did you know Laura has woken up?” The boy scratched his head but had apparently finally found the right way of explaining what happened for his heart did not balk.

“It's because Scott's mum, he is my best bud, told him and he then told me. It doesn't often happen that someone comato-... someone like your niece wakes up,” Stilinski said, “Mama McCall works as a nurse. You might have met her? Melissa?”

Yes, Peter had in fact met her and he now also remembered that smell in Laura's room this morning, the one that had reminded him of Melissa. It was probably the boy's, Scott's. And the second one, not the pungent Argent one, the sweet one, he could finally place it, too.

“You have been seeing my niece today. It wasn't Mrs. McCall that told you boys about her waking up,” the wolf finally concluded, on the one hand, relieved to have solved the puzzle, but now even more disappointed as to why the boy had apparently also come in contact with an Argent.

“You know?!” the boy exclaimed, utterly disenchanted. His eyes flew wide open when he noticed his mistake. Then his pale and slender hands flew up in panic. “Please don't kill me!” he started, “And please don't kill Scott or his mum!! I swear she did not know and we just wanted to help Allison and we really did not know what would happen and please, please, don't kill me!” Stilinski continued his heartbreaking pleading. Peter sighed, appeased that the boy really seemed to repent.

“Why don't you just tell me what happened and I might just be forgiving.” Time to discover the truth.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up for that tiny tiny bit of violence. 
> 
> Don't worry the next chapter is going to be written in Peter's pov again. I just had to explain how Scott was bitten and Peter wasn't there,.... so pov!Stiles and pov!Allison it was.
> 
> Please leave your honest feedback or anything that came to mind while reading this chapter. I always enjoy talking about stories!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading. Leave comments pls, so that I stay motivated to continue <333


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